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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Mortar shells slammed right into a residential space of Afghanistan’s capital and killed eight individuals Saturday, hours earlier than outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held what are seemingly his final conferences with the Taliban and Afghan authorities negotiators making an attempt to hammer out a peace deal.
The assault in Kabul, claimed by Islamic State militants, additionally wounded 31 individuals.
The assault got here as peace talks have been underway in Qatar, the place Pompeo instructed Afghan authorities negotiators that the U.S. will “sit on the aspect and assist the place we are able to” within the negotiations with Taliban militants. In the meantime, the U.S. army introduced a sudden go to to the Mideast by long-range, nuclear-capable B-52H bombers, underlining America’s persevering with presence within the area.
Two Taliban officers instructed The Related Press that the warring sides have discovered frequent floor on which to maneuver ahead the stalled talks. The officers, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they aren’t approved to talk to journalists, didn’t elaborate.
In Kabul, at the least one of many 23 mortar rounds hit contained in the Iranian Embassy compound. Nobody was wounded, however it broken the principle constructing, the embassy stated. At the very least 31 individuals have been damage elsewhere within the metropolis, in response to the Inside Ministry.
The native Islamic State affiliate issued a press release claiming the assault that focused the so-called Inexperienced Zone in Kabul, which homes overseas embassies, the presidential palace and Afghan army compounds, in response to SITE Intelligence Group.
In Doha, Pompeo met with the co-founder of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who signed the peace settlement with Washington in February forward of the so-called intra-Afghan talks. Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem tweeted that additional prisoner releases have been mentioned within the assembly, along with people who the 2 sides dedicated to forward of peace talks below the U.S. deal.
Naeem stated the Taliban additionally repeated their demand that their leaders be faraway from the United Nations sanctions record.
For many Afghans, the overriding concern has been a pointy rise in violence this 12 months and a surge of assaults by the Taliban towards Afghanistan’s beleaguered safety forces for the reason that begin of peace talks in September.
The announcement this week that the USA will speed up its deliberate troop withdrawal has lent higher urgency to the intra-Afghan negotiations and to the requires a discount in violence. Washington introduced it could withdraw one other estimated 2,500 troops earlier than the center of January, leaving about 2,000 troopers in Afghanistan as a part of America’s longest conflict.
The Taliban have, nonetheless, held to their promise to not assault U.S. and NATO troops. The U.S., alongside coalition forces, invaded Afghanistan in 2001 within the wake of al-Qaida’s Sept. 11 assaults, masterminded by Osama bin Laden, then a visitor of the Taliban authorities.
The USA has been urgent in current weeks for a discount in violence, whereas the Afghan authorities has been demanding a cease-fire. The Taliban have refused, saying a cease-fire might be a part of negotiations.
There are lots of throughout the Afghan authorities who need February’s peace deal scrapped. President-elect Joe Biden has beforehand advocated a small, intelligence-based drive in Afghanistan to give attention to counterterrorism.
The arrival of the long-range B-52H bombers underscored America’s potential to proceed to strike inside Afghanistan and the broader Center East. The bombers from North Dakota’s Minot Air Power Base got here as a part of what the U.S. army’s Central Command described as “a short-notice, long-range mission into the Center East” to “deter aggression and reassure U.S. companions and allies.”
Tensions additionally stay excessive between the U.S. and Iran within the waning days of the Trump administration.
Abdullah Abdullah, the top of the federal government’s Excessive Council for Reconciliation, individually condemned the Kabul assault in a tweet, calling it a “cowardly” act. The council oversees the federal government’s crew negotiating with the Taliban in Doha.
Pakistan, whose Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Kabul on Tuesday for the primary time since he got here to workplace, condemned the assault and warned “you will need to be vigilant towards the spoilers who’re working to undermine the peace efforts.” He didn’t establish the spoilers.
Hours earlier than the assault rattled Kabul, a bomb connected to a automobile killed one member of the Afghan safety forces and wounded three others in an japanese neighborhood of the capital, police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz stated.
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Gannon reported from Islamabad. Related Press author Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
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